What do you believe makes a person successful?

When Caitlin Kennedy contacted me asking if she could write a story on my career for The Border Watch's Successful Women in Business's section, I was taken by surprise. Of course, I said yes! But when she sent her questions through asking things like 'What do you believe makes a person successful in their career?' and 'Why do you consider yourself successful in your chosen career path?'...I was stumped. I had never considered myself 'successful'...that's what I was working towards...

I started writing a reply email explaining that I didn't think I was the right person for the story, but before hitting 'send', I paused, and actually thought about what I considered 'success' to be. Was it money? Was it completing so many films per year, or employing so many staff? Or was it happiness? In the end I realised that to me, success purely means that you are working towards your personal goals, whether they be financial, or philanthropic. There will always be new goals in business but I don’t think you have to reach them before you can consider yourself successful, as long as you are working towards what you want and most importantly, enjoying your life, then I consider you successful. I had never before thought of myself as successful but it was then that I realised I actually was. I am able to help other families preserve their memories just by doing what I love, which is my goal. Hearing the comments from these families, especially after someone has passed away makes me feel like I am making a difference and I know from Nanna’s video how special they are.

I can't thank Caitlin enough for making me actually stop and think about 'success', which in turn actually made me feel successful for the first time.